Page 24 of Cartel Rose (Jorge)

It’s not just her looks. I’m still listening to her office. If I weren’t learning anything, I would’ve headed home already. Her father’s poked around her office three times. From the way she mutters the next morning, she’s aware. I find Alex, the junior assistant or whatever he is, the most problematic. He snoops for the sake of snooping. As best I can tell from the bugs I planted in his apartment and on his phone, he isn’t selling the information. He sleeps like the dead, so I didn’t just put mics and cameras in his place like I did the entire Schlossberg & Sons office, I got to his cell phone too.

Johan’s clean as a fucking whistle. He’s as boring as Bastian. I had a couple of my guards follow him a few times. They reported he’s tried to find out from some friends at other brokerages if we went with them, but beyond that, he minds his own business. My kind of guy.

Sounds hypocritical, but what the fuck Schlossberg & Sons does is now my business after they fucked us over. I know it was Gunter, but the douche who’s called Liesel is pushing her harderto get us back on board. She’s still standing her ground against him while I drag out the negotiations. I’ve glimpsed no one else surveilling her, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t found other ways to track her. I can’t get to her phone to be certain.

I have boundaries even I won’t cross, so I haven’t been inside her home. Maybe thecarechimba—face of a vagina—doesn’t have those limits. Maybe he’s seeing things I’m not. Idon’twant to see her in bed with Bastian. Sick fucker if he is.

“Hola, Tío.”

I can’t ignoreTíoEnrique when he calls, even though it means I have to turn down the feed from Liesel’s office.

“Hola, sobrino. ¿Algo nuevo?” Hello, nephew. Anything new?

“Nada.” Nothing.

I can’t lie because I’ll have nothing to show. I know what’s coming as we continue the conversation in Spanish.

“Any reason for you to stay?”

“I still haven’t figured out if Anneliese or someone else is working for a rival.”

I catch myself with mytío. Maybe my brothers have told him my pet name, but I’ve been careful not to let it slip.

“You can keep monitoring her office from home. You don’t need to remain in Frankfurt for that. Drop a tracker on her car and the ones in their company fleet. Come home.”

Grrrrrrrr.

“And if something comes of the guy who dropped the note in her lap? I have the Atlantic between us before I can do anything to him.”For her.

“We have people in Frankfurt who can keep an eye on her. You’ve been gone nearly a month, Jorge.”

“Lo sé.” I know.

I nearly snap at mytío, but I mutter it instead. That’s not much better. I sound petulant rather than pissed. Neither will fool him.

“There’s something about her, isn’t there?”

Fuck my life.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Yourmamásays she has a boyfriend.”

Fucking-a.

“She does. It’s not like I’ve asked her out.”

“No. You’re just stalking her.”

Fucking hell.

“Monitoring the situation.”

“Sure,sobrino.”

“Are you ordering me home?”

I screw up my nose. Not the right choice of words or tone.